38 AMERICANWAY
MAY 15 2007
AW
L I T E R A R Y T O U R
Games
— and the reported$1million-plus
Chandrawas paid for it— that’smade him
amediadarling inAmerica.
Although ChANdRA ANd
his wife teach
creative writing at the University of Cali-
fornia, Berkeley, they spend five months a
year in Bandra, a centrally located suburb
of Mumbai. A popular corner pub there is
Olive Bar &Kitchen, a chicMediterranean
spot frequented by Bollywood stars (some
of whom live nearby in the posh Pali Hill
area).Anotherneighborhoodplace isChina
Gate, which serves Indian-style Chinese
food. “Indians like certain spices, a certain
kind of taste— a combination of spice and
sweetness,” Chandra says. “These guys have
come upwith it.Mywife,Melanie, says it’s
her favoriteChinese food in theworld.”
Seafood, though, is a Mumbai specialty
(the city is, after all, on the sea). Chandra
likesTrishna,anupscaleseafoodspotdown-
town: “It’s quite busy and full of people, so
it’s an interestingplace to visit.”
But he also likes Mahesh Lunch Home
andApoorva, less expensive seafood places
in the same area. They’re both known for
their fresh, local, in-season fish. It’s the
kind of food the star of
SacredGames
, po-
lice inspector Sartaj Singh, would eat. “You
canget dinner for 200 rupees, exactlywhat
Singh could afford,” Chandra says. “He’d
like this stuff.”
In thebook, Singhdelves into the lifeof a
Mumbai godfather,GaneshGaitonde,who,
in alternating chapters, tells his own story.
Gaitonde is a violent, ruthless crime boss,
buthe’salsoaconfused, loving, likableman.
In one of the most touching scenes in the
book, Gaitonde has his boys drive him to a
hilltop in FilmCity so he can sit and stare
at the sea and worry about a promise he’s
made to the daughter of one of his associ-
ates.Theydrivepast afilm set’s castle, town
square, and fishing dock. Without connec-
tions, theaverage tourist can’t get intoFilm
Cityquiteas easily, but regular, law-abiding
people can visit with advance permission.
“Sometimes the films need foreign extras,”
Chandra says, recounting the story of a
movie scout who approached a friend from
the United States. “They needed her for a
bar scene,”he says. “So she shot for a couple
of days, for fun.”
Some of the small-time crooks Singh en-
counters in
SacredGames
might showupat
in electronics, and theMangaldas Market,
a wholesale textiles market that’s crowded
and busy but great for designers and for
fashion anddecorating buffs. “It’s all full of
narrow lanes, busywithbusinessmenpush-
ing by you and all that stuff, so after that,
you’llwant togetadrinkat someniceplace,
theOberoi hotel or the TajMahal Palace&
Tower. They’rebothmaybea 15-minute cab
rideaway,” saysChandra.
Or, for some extreme peace and reflec-
tion, there’s Banganga Tank, a spring-fed
reservoir atop Malabar Hill. According to
legend, the Hindu god Ram stopped there
for a rest whenhewas looking for hiswife,
Sita, who’d been kidnapped by the demon
Ravana. Ram was thirsty, so he asked his
brother, Laxman, for a drink of water. Lax-
man shot an arrow into the ground, and
water burst forth — all the way from the
Ganges, which is some 1,000 miles away.
Now the tank is part of the Walkeshwar
Temple Complex, and it plays host every
February to a classical Hindustani music
festival. “It’s a sacred body of water sur-
rounded by temples,” Chandra says. “The
festival has some amazing musicians; it’s
really extraordinary.”
While Hindustani music hasn’t burst
onto the American consciousness yet, In-
dian fiction has, and Chandra has thought
aboutwhy. The Indian economicboom, the
offshoring trend—bothhave captured lots
of attention in theUnited States. “Reading
fiction, or inany sense interactingwithpeo-
ple from another place, is broadening and
educational,” he says. “I think this interest
in Indianwritingandart is all connected to
the economics and politics that have sud-
denlybrought India into theAmericanper-
spectiveas it’sneverbeenbefore.”
Around the corner fromBanganga Tank
and also on top of Malabar Hill are the
HangingGardens andKamalaNehruPark.
There’s a view of the city from each place.
Stretching out below, the entire Backbay
area is visible, from Chowpatty Beach to
Nariman Point and beyond, to Colaba. Off
to thenorth,Chandra’shome inBandraand
Sartaj Singh’s fictional home can be seen.
All of it, as far as the eye can see, has been
sculpted and folded into Chandra’s book
and is availableonabookstore shelf.
Chor Bazaar, which translates as “thieves’
bazaar.”Once true to thename— itwas the
place where stolen goods found new own-
ers— it’snowabigfleamarket,withahuge
range of individual shops. “Some are like a
hole in thewall; some have taken a hole in
the wall and poshed it up and put in air-
conditioning to attract tourists,” Chandra
says. “You can get antiques and old stuff,
although youhave to be careful: People are
expert at faking things, so make sure you
knowwhat you’re lookingat.”
The wholesale food market is the place
to go for “the kind of adventurous tourist
who wants to really get into the life of the
city,” Chandra says. CrawfordMarket is in
a Victorian building designed by Rudyard
Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling.
“Great photoops,” he says. “You’vegot tobe
prepared forcrowdsand smells, but it’svery
interesting.”
Several other bazaars operate nearby,
including Lohar Chawl, which specializes
IfYougo
hoW to gEt thERE
AmericanAirlinesfliesdaily fromChicagoO’Hare
to Delhi; Air Sahara flies from Delhi toMumbai.
Formore information, visitwww.aa.com.
AttRACtIoNs
Apoorva,
seafood, Noble Chambers, S.A. Brelvi
Road, Fort, 011-91-22-228-703-35
Banganga tank, Kamala Nehru Park,
and
Mumbai hanginggardens,
MalabarHill
BayviewBar,
theOberoi, NarimanPoint, 011-
91-22-663-257-57
Chinagate,
Indian-styleChinese, 155Waterfield
Road, BandraWest, 011-91-22-264-325-70
ChorBazaar,
MohammedAli Road
CrawfordMarket,
wholesale foodmarket,
D. Naoroji Road at L. TilakRoad
FilmCity.
Advance permission needed to visit;
ask your concierge.
harbourBar,
TajMahal Palace&Tower, Apollo
Bunder, 011-91-22-666-533-66
lohar Chawl,
outdoor bazaar, across from
CrawfordMarket’swest entrance
Maheshlunchhome,
seafood, 8-BCawasji
Patel Street, 011-91-22-228-709-38, www
.maheshlunchhome.com
MangaldasMarket,
wholesale clothmarket,
SheikhMemonStreet near CrawfordMarket
oliveBar&Kitchen,
Mediterranean, 14Union
ParkKhar, Bandra, 011-91-22-260-582-28
trishna,
seafood, 7Sai BabMarg, BirlaMansion,
011-91-22-227-032-13
tRACY stAtoN
is an
AmericanWay
contributing editor based
inTexas.
